She is five. Started Kindergarten at home with A Beka Book in Sept. It used to take us an hour to do all the subjects but I noticed she got distracted and wasn't paying attention. I have narrowed it down to 1/2 an hour and only do the basics .... numbers, phonics. She told me she wasn't interested in coloring (but I think she is starting to change her mind). I have also taken away the penmenship (which was actually her favorite thing) because I am finding that she was focusing all her time on that and didn't care about the other things ... she also doesn't recognize all her letters yet, nor can she print them all so I wanted her to focus on printing them first. I told her we would do penmenship in grade one.
What can I do to keep her interested in school work. I find I am rushing through it because I see her losing interest ... but then she isn't really grasping it all. She is still have trouble recognizing the 7 and 9.
Thanks for your help.

It doesn't sound like the curriculum is a good fit for her. What does she like to do as far as non-academics? How does she spend the bulk of her day? Does the curriculum seem to be opposite of that or a natural integration?

Kindergarten is so young! It's a time to explore, not a time for forced learning. If she loves the penmanship why not let her do that? Slip in "school" at other times of the day. It doesn't have to be sitting down. Get 4 apples and 6 bananas at the grocery store and count how many. Give her different tools for science. Fill notebooks with pictures of what you see. Have her dictate stories to you so you can write down her words. Jump rope and count forward, backward, by 2s, 5s, 10s, fingerpaint her name or random words.

Focus on your goals and the many options to reach them will appear.

"The greatest sign of success for a teacher... is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist."
- M. MontessoriProud non-member of the HSLDA

Thanks for the insight Lily. I am finding it hard to fit her in with teaching two older students so trying to finish all at once is obviously asking too much of her. This is our first year homeschooling too. I am going to break her studies up into small 10-15 minute segments in the day and hope she starts to enjoy herself.

ontheprairie wrote:Thanks for the insight Lily. I am finding it hard to fit her in with teaching two older students so trying to finish all at once is obviously asking too much of her. This is our first year homeschooling too. I am going to break her studies up into small 10-15 minute segments in the day and hope she starts to enjoy herself.

Hi!
I think breaking the learning up is a good idea. Lily had some good ideas too.
The 3 R's by Ruth Beechick gives alot of other good ideas. You make see if you can put your hands on a copy. (It's actually 3 very short books that usually come as a set.)

I absolutely agree with Lily. You may have the best of intentions, but lerning should be fun and you may be doing more harm than good with your old approach. "Sneaky learning" as I like to call it, is the best way. At any age! So READ READ READ to her - get her interested in ideas, expanding her vocab, expanding ideas, making connections ("Does this make you think of something else..?)- so reading and talking are number one! And let her 'play" with cooking, a grab-bag of bits n' bobs (coloured paper, ribbons, wool, paper-towel tubes, paperclips, pegs...) and make things; then she's sneakily learning everything from shapes, to basic maths/geometry, to following a sequence of instructions (when you occasionally show her how to make something - e.g. Christmas angels, peg-dolls) to creativity. Go for it and she will ALWAYS be learning, even at the shops or in the park! Play 'memeory" games too - cards with different numbers on them from 1-10, and then 'disappear' one and see if she can tell what's gone. Do this with pictures too, then letters too, then words... it's all sequential Hope this helps
JEAN EDWARDS (in New Zealand)

After reading your other posts, I'd put the 4th and 5th grader in the same level of A Beka for reading, science, health, and history. Then I'd "school" the kindergartner in brief episodes while the older ones are reading. Then let her play in the same room while you're going over the older one's review questions each day in science, health, etc. She might just start getting interested then.

Thanks ladies. You're right ... I am a little too old school. Around here - people make a big deal out of homeschool kids that are playing outside during 'school' hours. I am ignoring that - we are done school around lunch so the kids are allowed to enjoy their free time. I know of other homeschoolers in our area that three all testing out the door ... I am scared of that because I want our kids to still learn structure so they are prepared for adulthood. I like your idea of putting my 4th grade and 5th grade together for science, health and history. Reading, spelling, and math have to be individual for both of them because the boy is ahead of the girl in those areas. What about english ... can I combine those? Also ... would I bring the 4th grader up or bring the 5th grader down?
I will definatly try to make kindergarten more relaxed and enjoyable for my younger student. I am also figuring out how to include our two year old in all of this ... the older two are so used to 'school' that they find noise distracting.